Members of Anna’s team reach out to BJP, find favour

Ahead of the debate on Jan Lokpal Bill in Lok Sabha on Friday, Anna Hazare team tonight reached out to BJP which said a solution to the impasse could be found in consonance with the Constitution if the government has a "constructive" attitude. Hazare’s associates Arvind Kejriwal, Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan and Kiran Bedi met senior BJP leaders L K Advani, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Nitin Gadkari for over three hours explaining their version of the Lokpal Bill and gave "clarifications" on aspects over which the Opposition party had "doubts".

"We discussed how a solution could be found while preserving the prestige of Parliament and Constitution," Jaitley told reporters later.

He said the civil society representatives agreed that a solution should be in consonance with the Constitution, he said, adding the rest depends on whether the government has a "positive" and constructive" approach.

If government "sincerely" approaches the issue, a solution should not be difficult, the BJP leader said.

He said the Hazare team had given clarifications to the BJP leaders on various aspects over which they had "doubts".

Regarding questions over whether Prime Minister should be brought under the purview of Lokpal, Jaitley said the BJP had clarified its position on July 4 that he should be included.

With regard to higher judiciary, he said the BJP favoured a separate commission.